Often, at this step, the biggest challenge for founders is not having too few good ideas but too many! Perhaps you’re swimming in good ideas! So how do you decide which one to pick? Or maybe you’re psyched about a single idea - how do you know if it’s a good one? Today, we will do an initial assessment of our business ideas to be confident we’re spending our valuable time and energy moving the best ones forward.
In Idea Generation, we brainstormed around the question, “How might we solve this problem for this customer?” We came up with many solutions using an ideation technique called diverging. Diverging means putting quality and judgment aside and creating all possible solutions to a chosen problem.
In this lesson, we’re going to practice converging. Converging is when you evaluate the proposed solutions and whittle them down to a smaller set of solutions. This diverging and converging process is integral to design thinking and other innovation methodologies. We recommend using it whenever you need to brainstorm, get unstuck, or want to be more creative! We aim to evaluate your business ideas and narrow them down to the one you want to advance to Step 2: Customer.
In this lesson, we’re going to practice converging. Converging is when you evaluate the proposed solutions and whittle them down to a smaller set of solutions. This diverging and converging process is integral to design thinking and other innovation methodologies. We recommend using it whenever you need to brainstorm, get unstuck, or simply want to be more creative! We aim to evaluate your business ideas and narrow them down to the one you want to advance to Step 2: Customer.
Step back from your busy day-to-day execution and check in with yourself. A moment of reflection enables us to sit with and fully grasp what we have learned to be confident that we’re on the right path. Use today’s exercise to step back and ensure your business idea is still a good fit - that it’s in line with your interests and passions as a founder and has high potential as a business.
Believe it or not, the best place to start when evaluating a business idea is with yourself! After all, at this stage, you are the company. And for your startup to be successful, you need to be energized by what you’re working on. To feel motivated for the long game, we think you have to be working at the intersection of:
*“Build your business success around something that you love — something that is inherently and endlessly interesting to you.” —*Martha Stewart, businesswoman, writer, and television personality.
When assessing your compatibility with an idea, we also need to look at the more practical and mundane aspects: How easy will it be for me to reach this customer (the most important job of the founder)? How much will I the day-to-day responsibilities of executing this idea?
Expanding upon the third circle of 'problems in the world', the second dimension we’re going to evaluate your ideas on is their market potential. Just how big of an opportunity is this business idea? We look at everything from how painful the problem you’re solving is, to your customer’s ability to pay, to how much competition you’ll face.
Idea Evaluation Template